A lost child and a Pierrot
by JDark
Summary: Set between ch207-210, a side-story that could have occurred during this three months' gap. Chased down by his foes and former allies Allen meets a child, who reminds him of his time with Mana.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **A lost child and a Pierrot

**Summary:** Set between ch207-210, a side-story that could have occurred during this three months' gap. Chased down by his foes and former allies Allen meets a child, who reminds him of his time with Mana. Contains Allen's thoughts on who he is and what he should do from now on.

**Disclaimer: **everything belongs to Hoshino Katsura

**A/N: **Well, this is some story I came up with re-reading DGM. The aim was to depict Allen's emotions and thoughts after he had been exiled from the Order. I hope, you enjoy it. Anyway, reviews are appreciated.

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><p>'Ne, onii-san, are you an angel?'<p>

Him? An angel? What a joke. Allen smiled bitterly and gave a sign to the girl to stay quite. The last thing he wanted now was to be found by the Apocryphos. And he could not even hide properly with his arm like that. As if hearing his thoughts the innocence in his left hand has grown one more wing and bent it under an unnatural angle, giving the boy sharp pain. He gritted his teeth.

'Are you in pain?' The girl was still hovering over him worried. This time, however, she got the hint and asked in merely a whisper.

'No, I'm alright,' Allen once again smiled at her. 'Here', he fished a candy out of his pocket and gave it to the girl with his right hand. 'Would you now, please, go home? Your parents must be worried.'

Well, at least if he was this girl's father he would be worried sick to find her in a narrow alley in company of a, to say the least, suspicious person and a dozen of trash cans.

Besides, what if the Apocryphos showed up? Fortunately, his arm seemed to calm down and return to its normal shape, meaning the danger has passed, and the enemy was not likely to ambush him anytime soon. He sighed in relief and closed his eyes. Being chased down for weeks by that monster was getting to him; he barely slept and did not quite have time to earn enough money, so he was short on food as well. Slowly he dozed off. In some dirty valley, sitting on the cold floor with his back against the wall. Just like he used to when he was a nameless foundling, thrown out by his parents. Honestly, who can claim that leaving a child in the backyard of the circus can be called finding him a good asylum? It is like they donated a new curiosity to the circus; something the circus staff would put behind the bars and display to the cheering crowd, or maybe teach it a few tricks and let it embarrass itself to the enjoyment of the audience. Whatever they had been thinking leaving Allen all alone, surprisingly, did not make him bear a grudge against them. He simply did not really think of them. He never saw them and to him they had never existed. Besides, he once had that other, one and only, person, he could call father.

He was not sure how long he had slept. For some reason, despite his surroundings, half-lying on the floor with his eyes still closed was very comfortable. It felt warm. Strange. Allen lazily opened his eyes to determine what exactly was the source of warmth by his side, which, by the way, was shifting slightly appearing to be breathing. The sight with which he was presented made him completely awake and, also, quite surprised. Leaning on his shoulder, with her face buried in the fabric of Allen's shirt, there slept that same girl from before. She was around nine or ten years old by her looks and quite pretty, with long golden locks, and simple, but neat, grey dress with black frills.

Allen, caught off guard by the presence of such a neighbor, luckily did not freak out too much, and, thus, the girl escaped being shoved off, meeting the floor face-first. Instead, Allen moved his shoulder a bit to wake her up in this gentler manner. The girl murmured something in response and yawned. Then, finally realizing where she was, she jumped to her feet blushing.

'Sorry, but o-niisan wasn't waking up for so long. And I also felt like sleeping a bit.'

She studied Allen's face and to prevent the questions, she did not really want to hear, handed him a small paper bag.

'There. It's bread, I didn't have much money, but still, with this onii-san's tummy won't grumble so loudly, right?'

'Thank you!' Allen did not have it in him to turn the offer down, and opening the bag, quickly stuffed his mouth with a large morsel of bread. However, he stopped himself from eating the whole piece of bread, and shared it with his savior.

After finishing their meal both sat in silence, the girl looking down, the floor suddenly becoming very interesting, and Allen glancing at her from time to time, thinking of what to ask first.

'So-' he began.

'May I go with you?'

'Eh? What?' Allen stared at her in disbelief. Why on earth one would want to go somewhere with a complete stranger. How can she be so reckless? She just does not know whom she is asking. Allen briefly wondered if the girl would get scared for life seeing him slicing akuma with his blade.

'So, may I, o-niisan?' She looked expectantly at him.

'What are you saying? You do not know who I am. Maybe I'm a bad person. I can do you harm, you know.' Well, now that was partly true as Allen was not really sure of himself anymore. 'Where are your parents?'

'I don't have any.' She looked like she was about to cry, Allen turned away, muttering 'I'm sorry.'

'Please, o-niisan, I have nowhere to go, there's no home for me anymore.'

Allen eyed the girl. Her clothes were a bit dusty and she also looked like she did not wash her face for a couple of days. Still she did not give the impression of a homeless kid wandering the streets for weeks.

'Tell me your name, please.'

'Sarah'

'Well, Sarah, could it be that you have run away from home?'

She nodded slightly.

'So, you do have some other siblings. But why did you run away?'

'There is just Rose-nee and me. Nee-chan is a good person. She had always cared for me. Nee-chan really loves me. But,' Sarah's voice wavered a bit. 'Even though she does, she told to leave the house and never come back.'

'Did something happen?'

'I don't know.' the girl sobbed. 'I didn't do anything. It's just that nee-chan was very, very sad recently. She liked Pierre-nii very much and he would often come by and spend time with us. But a week ago someone came to speak with nee-chan; she cried a lot that day and wouldn't tell me anything except that Pierre-nii won't be coming anymore. She really changed after that. I don't know what to do.' She finished, looking up at Allen with glinting eyes.

Allen, who had been listening attentively throughout the story, knitted his brows slightly, wearing a thoughtful expression. He then lifted himself from the ground, dusted his sides and, covering a couple meters' distance between him and Sarah, kneeled before her.

'Look,' he patted her head gently. 'I know, you're scared and don't know where to go. But you can't just go somewhere with the first person you meet. To tell the truth, I'm just like you, I can't return home right now. So, I'm sorry, but I won't be able to take care of you. Still... I think, I can help somehow.'

He definitely was not going to take her with him. It was simply too dangerous. However, leaving her in the streets was not an option either. So he decided to have a talk with her older sister, who maybe was already regretting her decision and, thus, would gladly welcome the poor girl back. In the worst case, he can try finding Sarah a new home, and, for the matter, the church in Paris, where Timothy had lived, seemed perfect. The only obstacle in getting her to live there was him, or so he thought, fearing that the girl might get in trouble if in the Order learns that she has some connections with their newly established traitor and an enemy.

'Let's go to your sister's place, I want to speak with her.' Allen continued. 'You still want to live with her, don't you? So let's try to convince you sister to take you back.'

For a moment Sarah looked quite uncertain, but eventually she smiled and nodded at Allen.

'Un, thank you, o-niisan.'

Like this, it was decided. Allen took up his only belonging - a small worn out suitcase with nothing in it but his clown outfit and some tools, which being the things his master's patron gave him, and they set out.

'Ne, o-niisan, were you sleeping in the alley because your train was late?'

'Not really. Why did you think that I had been waiting for a train?'

'Well, the station is near, and o-niisan also has baggage.'

'Oh, this.' He swung the suitcase in his hand a bit. 'That's just for my work. I need to earn money to live, don't I?'

'And what do you do, o-niisan?'

'I'm-' he paused.

Well, really, who he was now? He had almost said that he was an exorcist, but that was not true anymore. At least officially. Then what? Admit that he is a traitor and a Noah, but he would not believe in this himself. He was so worn out by this struggle of preserving his identity and following his own pass. He just wanted to forget everything. Honestly, why all these have to be so complicated. Why will not everything return to the peaceful time he had with Mana, when there were only two of them, a lost child and a Pierrot. Come to think of it, the situation in which he now has found himself was quite similar. Though, the roles were switched. Now he is the one carrying the clown suit and beside him walks a lost child. He sighed.

'I'm a street performer. There's just a clown suit in the case.'

'Really?' The girl seemed exited. 'I wish, I could see.'

'Then come together with your sister, when we settle everything, and I will be happy to show you my performance.'

'That's a promise' she stated.

'Sure.'

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><p><strong>TBC <strong>

So, how was it? Please, review!

* if anything, 'o-niisan' means either 'older brother' or is a way one refers to smb older than himself. 'o-neesan' - 'older sister'.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's the second chapter, please, enjoy. It's a bit sad, though.

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><p>They strolled down a busy street. Sarah was holding tightly on Allen's hand not to get separated, but still was a step ahead of him, leading the way.<p>

Allen was uneasy. Like when he had met Lavi for the first time. He then quarreled with him and went alone to wander in the town. But instead of calming him down, the walk turned into a real disaster. His left eye, still covered in bandages and unable to see, would not react to the presence of akuma. And being exposed to the enemy like this really distressed him. He could still remember his hands shaking, even though he clenched them tightly into fists in his pockets, and how his heart would skip a beat, when, while he was weaving his way through the crowd, somebody jogged or pushed him. And that gnawing feeling of those people all laughing behind his back, their faces distorted in evil, inhuman grins. Maybe he was relying on his left eye too much, but he could not really do anything about it. This curse, the ability to see akuma was, probably, the thing that helped him survive so far. Somehow Allen knew that he would never be able to become like all other exorcists. To suspect everyone, to see all people as potential threat - such thoughts just contradicted his nature. Unfortunately, his naive strive to help both humans and akuma, to believe in people, was not really a thing to be proud of. Just a burden. Something that, if not for this cursed eye, would have led him to his grave. Though, he still would prefer being killed than betray his beliefs.

Disregarding Allen's nervousness, there were no akuma in sight, and the pair safely turned into the narrow adjacent street with only a few people. This left Allen more or less at ease. Well, there still was the possibility of Apocryphos finding him, but in that case his innocence will give him a sign. That was funny, Allen thought. He reminded himself of one of Komui's robots that had special sensors to determine whether there is an exorcist before him or not. Allen still lacked a sensor for Noahs, otherwise he had a full package of good searching devises.

His thoughts were disrupted by Sarah who squealed and tore her hand away. He followed her surprised stare and looked at his pants pocket. From the inside of it was dangling a long golden tail, which swinging back and forth irritably, was slapping Allen against his leg. The boy narrowed his eyes and caught the golem by its tail, tugging it out of his pocket.

'Did he scare you?' Allen asked, still holding the golem as if it was a trophy.

'Just a bit.'

'Well, this guy's my friend. He means no harm.' Confirming his master's words the golem squirmed, freeing himself and promptly caught the boy's index finger between his teeth.

'Ouch! Tim!' After being shaken from the wounded limb, the golem seated himself on Allen's head as if nothing had happened at all. The boy sighed.

'No, really he's probably just hungry.' Allen reassured the girl, who still did not seem convinced of the good intentions of this sharp-fanged golden ball.

'Well, if onii-san says so.' The girl shrugged. 'Ah! Look, it's that building, we're almost there.'

Sarah was pointing at a two-storey building which came into view when they turned another corner. The house was relatively small and looked a bit shabby, though that was not surprising, considering that it was located in the outskirts, neighboring some workhouses, small factories and storage places, rather than actual dwelling houses. This, however, was the best place Rose could afford to rent for Sarah and herself since their parents' death. They never complained, instead spending their time on making the inner space, two small rooms and a kitchen on the second floor, more agreeable and home-like. Besides as Rose worked hard as a house maid to an old lady in the center of the town, they were hoping to save up enough money to move into some safer and more respectable part of the town.

'Strange, the lights are out. Maybe Nee-chan isn't home yet.'

Allen looked at the dim windows more closely, as they were nearing the building, and froze. A shadow lurked behind the thin curtains, his left eye activated.

'This is bad'

'Onii-san?' Sarah noticed the change in her companion; he suddenly tensed up, glaring sharply at the window. His left eye became a mixture of black and bloody red, with a strange lens brimmed by needle-bearing in front of it, the girl gasped.

He knelled before her, covering his left eye with his palm, trying not to scary the girl with his current appearance.

'I'll explain everything later. There's someone else in your house now. A very dangerous thing. But I can stop it, just don't come after me.' He jumped to his feet and rushed to the building, a beautiful snowy-white cloak appeared on his back. 'Stay where you are!' he cried before disappearing behind the front door, which turned out to be open.

He made his way through the hallway. To his horror there was glass scattered all over the place, the furniture also appeared considerably damaged. Obviously no signs of the occupants of this floor could be seen. Unless those people had been extremely lucky and decided to leave for a couple of days, not witnessing the annihilation of their home, which unfortunately was quite unlikely, they were no more.

Allen felt a pang of guilt. No matter how often he saw the scenes of this kind, he could never get used to them. Kanda would say that no war can go without sacrifices, he thought. But still, it was just too painful to know that the number of people whom he had failed to save was just piling up. If he did not hide in that valley, fearing to be discovered by the Apocryphos, but moved around the town a bit, would he have been able to notice this akuma earlier? It was too late now. It was always too late. The Millennium Earl once again managed to be one step ahead. Allen bit down on his lower lip, trying to drive away unwanted thoughts, but scenes of the past kept flashing in his mind. Although there had been many successful missions, where the exorcists were able to retrieve the innocence, they would still face destroyed, caught on fire towns and ruined lives on their way. But no one would accuse them of this in the report and in the Order the mission would still classify as a success. The innocence and the enrollment of a new exorcist were the only two things that mattered to the Order's higher-ups. Human lives had been overlooked. We are not saviours, we are destroyers. Was it really supposed to be like this?

Allen really despised himself at the moment. But the self-reproach could wait. The thing he really needed to ascertain now was what has happened to Rose. And he was scared, because he pretty much knew what exactly he would find after climbing the ladder. He slowly ascended nonetheless. Even if he is too late to save this poor girl's sister, he still has a duty as an exorcist, which is to exterminate the akuma. No, that is not right. To save the akuma.

One of the two doors in the small hall of the second floor was ajar; Allen could hear some noise coming from the room, so he decided to enter that one first. There he saw a fragile silhouette of a young woman, no more than twenty years old, standing by the window. A tiny bit of hope brimmed in him, but it died out as quickly as it appeared. Despite the darkness of the room, the cursed eye exposed the chained soul engulfed in the dark matter above the woman's head. Allen prepared to strike, the Crown Clown activated ever since he entered the building, but for some reason hesitated a bit.

The woman turned around slowly, but the movements were broken and not at all human-like. The soul cried out in pain when its body began to transform into the akuma form. Allen was silent, watching sadly as the level 2 akuma appeared before him.

'Why did you bring her here?' the akuma's voice echoed in his mind as its soul twisted uncomfortably under his cursed eye's gaze. 'I even managed to drive her away, when HE wasn't looking.'

'Is he talking about Sarah?' Allen thought, looking behind him in panic. True to his fears the girl was standing by the ladder, using the railing for support so she will not fall down because of her legs shaking too much. He could not imagine a more horrified look on her face. 'Damn, she probably saw her sister's figure in the window and ran here, but when?' Allen was not sure if she was there from the very beginning, seeing her own sister transform into a monster. He hoped that it was just the sight of the akuma that terrified the kid into tears. Otherwise it was the worst possible case scenario.

'The only one I didn't want to kill! Why? Why?' the monster raised its right arm, with a machine gun like weapon loaded with metal spikes planted in it. Allen moved back shading the girl from the enemy protectively. 'And now HE is looking. I can't disobey.'

'I hate you!' the akuma cried releasing the attack aimed at the girl by his side. Allen quickly moved away, pulling Sarah along, and successfully avoided the spikes.

In a split of a second the boy regrouped and by extending his cloak landed a direct hit on the akuma's body splitting it in half.

The monster started disappearing, crumbling down bit by bit. Allen saw its soul struggling to free itself from the chains which now were hanging around it almost loosely. Under the layer of chains and bandages appeared a face of a handsome young man. He looked down at Sarah sadly, not sure if the girl, who was sitting on her knees near Allen and crying her eyes out, was able to see him, but still said:

'I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect your sister.'

'Pierre-nii?' She jerked her head up, but there was nothing there anymore.

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><p>TBC<p>

A/N: Sorry, the floor system is quite confusing, so take it that there was no ground-floor things, because, I imagined, there were only two floors in the building, which I named as the first and second.

Anyway, there still will be two or three chapters, so, please, look forward to it. Your reviews are always appreciated!


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